


State of Grace

by spideybabeparker



Category: Bucky Barnes - Fandom, Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Bucky Barnes AU, Bucky Barnes Angst, F/M, bucky barnes modern au, bucky barnes smut, marvel angst, marvel modern au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-25
Updated: 2020-04-09
Packaged: 2021-01-03 08:44:56
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 15,254
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21176627
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spideybabeparker/pseuds/spideybabeparker
Summary: He’s a lives next door and is someone who sleeps around often. She’s a nurse who is struggling to get enough sleep because of his night time activities.





	1. Well this is awkward

The sound of a high pitched moan and the sound a bed frame banging against your wall was preventing you from getting any sleep. This was the third time this week that your neighbors bedroom activities had kept you up in the middle of the night. Glancing over at the clock on your nightstand you groaned at the sight of it reading two in the morning. You had to be up in three and half hours for a long shift at the hospital and at this rate you were going to be dead tired and useless.

The slamming of the bed frame once again hitting your wall made you want to scream.   
“Bucky,” the noisy girl screamed.

Covering your face your groaned wishing you had the nerve to hit on the wall telling them to shut the hell up. With one more hit of the wall you heard a groan coming from your neighbor. 

Rolling over onto your side your covered your head with your pillow hoping you didn’t hear anything else coming from the other side of the wall. Luckily silence followed and soon you were able to get some sleep.

As your alarm went off in the morning you were so exhausted you could cry. Your shower you took that morning only served the propose to wake you up. With minimal makeup on and your hair pulled back in a ponytail you walked out of your apartment. As you opened your door you looked over at your noisy neighbors apartment to see your too hot for his own good neighbor opening his door with nothing but a towel hanging lose around his hips. His blue eyes locked on yours and he gave you a lopsided smile.

With an awkward nod you quickly walked past him towards the stairs.  
Bucky and you had been neighbors for about six months and in that time you a spoken a little but it was just friendly neighbor talking. You didn’t know anything about him other then he was hot and tended to sleep around. You only knew that because you had heard his bedroom activities over the last months and you saw the sea of extremely attractive women pouring out of his apartment. 

Your whole shift you worked at the hospital you wanted to do nothing more then take a long nap. When your lunch came around you and two of the other nurses Wanda and Natasha sat in cafeteria eating with you. You nibbled on your food that was on the plate in front of you, but mostly focused on your cup of strong coffee that was in your hand. The girls were in the process of talking about one of the hot heart surgeons that had just transferred to the hospital.

“(Y/N) why do you seem even more tired then normal?” Natasha asked noticing that her friend didn’t even seem to be focusing on the conversation.  
“Huh?” You asked looking up at the red head.

“Did you even sleep last night?” Wanda asked.

“No once again Bucky had some chick over that couldn’t seem to keep it down,” you groaned as you dropped you head into your hands.

Natasha couldn’t help but laugh, “why don’t you have sex really loudly and give him a taste of his own medicine?”

Rolling your eyes you groaned, “when do I have time to date anyone?”

“No one said anything about dating honey. It sounds like you need to get laid,” Wanda laughed.

“You guys are assholes,” you glared.

“Why don’t you have sex with him? Didn’t you say he was like really hot and always shirtless?” Natasha asked.

“First of all fuck no, second of all I don’t even know him. I literally know what girls moan about him in the middle of sex.”

“I bet he’s packing if these chicks can’t keep quiet,” Wanda laughed.  
“I try not to think about his dick,” you said deadpan.

“Well if you need someone to have sex with you can always hook up with Dr. Barton. You guys are friends and he’s totally down,” Natasha smiled.

Natasha and Clint were really good friends and one time when he was drunk he admitted that he was totally down to sleep with you, and you couldn’t lie you had thought about taking him up on that offer. 

“Does your silence mean you’re finally going to have sex with Clinton?” Natasha asked.

“Honestly I’m done with you two,” you stood up and grabbed your coffee and walked away from them.

“If you want to sleep with him just let me know,” Natasha shouted as you walked away.  
Walking out of the cafeteria you headed   
back upstairs to the floor you were working on. You stood there looking at one of you patients charts when you saw Clint walking towards you. You couldn’t help but wonder if Natasha had told him about your conversation.

“Good morning Dr. Barton,” you said before taking a sip of your coffee.

“Morning (Y/N), does your basically black coffee also mean you’re exhausted?” He asked.

You nodded your head and looked up at him and smiled, “I’m always exhausted.”

“Oh I don’t know if Natasha told you but some of us are going down to that bar on fourth street tonight if you want to join.”

“No she actually didn’t,” you said knowing that you didn’t exactly give Natasha a chance to invite you out.

“Well it would be great if you came,” he smirked and shrugged his shoulder.  
“Okay I’ll try to come.”

The rest of your long shift went by pretty smoothly. As you walked down the hall towards your apartment you saw Bucky walking up to his door as well. He looked over at you as worked on opening your door.

“Evening neighbor,” he said capturing your attention.

“Evening,” you awkwardly responded.

You always felt so awkward speaking to him knowing that you heard his bedroom activities. You couldn’t help but wonder if he was aware that heard him and his bedroom activities. 

You scurried off into you apartment not really want to interact with the man that you couldn’t help but picture having sex. Walking inside you quickly shut your door and leaned against it. You took a deep breath and shook you head. You were in desperate need of sleep and you prayed that Bucky wasn’t going to have a guest over to keep you awake.


	2. Moans and groans

The sound of a high pitched moan and the sound a bed frame banging against your wall was preventing you from getting any sleep. This was the third time this week that your neighbors bedroom activities had kept you up in the middle of the night. Glancing over at the clock on your nightstand you groaned at the sight of it reading two in the morning. You had to be up in three and a half hours for a long shift at the hospital and at this rate you were going to be dead tired and useless.  
The slamming of the bed frame once again hitting your wall made you want to scream.   
“Bucky,” the noisy girl screamed.  
Covering your face your groaned wishing you had the nerve to hit on the wall telling them to shut the hell up. With one more hit of the wall you heard a groan coming from your neighbor.   
Rolling over onto your side your covered your head with your pillow hoping you didn’t hear anything else coming from the other side of the wall. Luckily silence followed and soon you were able to get some sleep.  
As your alarm went off in the morning you were so exhausted you could cry. Your shower you took that morning only served the propose to wake you up. With minimal makeup on and your hair pulled back in a ponytail you walked out of your apartment. As you opened your door you looked over at your noisy neighbors apartment to see your too hot for his own good neighbor opening his door with nothing but a towel hanging lose around his hips. His blue eyes locked on yours and he gave you a lopsided smile.  
With an awkward nod you quickly walked past him towards the stairs.  
Bucky and you had been neighbors for about six months and in that time you spoken a little but it was just a friendly neighbor talking. You didn’t know anything about him other than he was hot and tended to sleep around. You only knew that because you had heard his bedroom activities over the last months and you saw the sea of extremely attractive women pouring out of his apartment.   
Your whole shift you worked at the hospital you wanted to do nothing more then take a long nap. When your lunch came around you and two of the other nurses Wanda and Natasha sat in the cafeteria eating with you. You nibbled on your food that was on the plate in front of you, but mostly focused on your cup of strong coffee that was in your hand. The girls were in the process of talking about one of the hot heart surgeons that had just transferred to the hospital.  
“(Y/N) why do you seem even more tired than normal?” Natasha asked noticing that her friend didn’t even seem to be focusing on the conversation.  
“Huh?” You asked looking up at the red head.  
“Did you even sleep last night?” Wanda asked.  
“No once again Bucky had some chick over that couldn’t seem to keep it down,” you groaned as you dropped you head into your hands.  
Natasha couldn’t help but laugh, “why don’t you have sex really loudly and give him a taste of his own medicine?”  
Rolling your eyes you groaned, “when do I have time to date anyone?”  
“No one said anything about dating honey. It sounds like you need to get laid,” Wanda laughed.  
“You guys are assholes,” you glared.  
“Why don’t you have sex with him? Didn’t you say he was like really hot and always shirtless?” Natasha asked.  
“First of all fuck no, second of all I don’t even know him. I literally know what girls moan about him in the middle of sex.”  
“I bet he’s packing if these chicks can’t keep quiet,” Wanda laughed.  
“I try not to think about his dick,” you said deadpan.  
“Well if you need someone to have sex with you can always hook up with Dr. Barton. You guys are friends and he’s totally down,” Natasha smiled.  
Natasha and Clint were really good friends and one time when he was drunk he admitted that he was totally down to sleep with you, and you couldn’t lie you had thought about taking him up on that offer.   
“Does your silence mean you’re finally going to have sex with Clinton?” Natasha asked.  
“Honestly I’m done with you two,” you stood up and grabbed your coffee and walked away from them.  
“If you want to sleep with him just let me know,” Natasha shouted as you walked away.  
Walking out of the cafeteria you headed back upstairs to the floor you were working on. You stood there looking at one of you patients charts when you saw Clint walking towards you. You couldn’t help but wonder if Natasha had told him about your conversation.  
“Good morning Dr. Barton,” you said before taking a sip of your coffee.  
“Morning (Y/N), does your basically black coffee also mean you’re exhausted?” He asked.  
You nodded your head and looked up at him and smiled, “I’m always exhausted.”  
“Oh I don’t know if Natasha told you but some of us are going down to that bar on fourth street tonight if you want to join.”  
“No she actually didn’t,” you said knowing that you didn’t exactly give Natasha a chance to invite you out.  
“Well it would be great if you came,” he smirked and shrugged his shoulder.  
“Okay I’ll try to come.”  
The rest of your long shift went by pretty smoothly. As you walked down the hall towards your apartment you saw Bucky walking up to his door as well. He looked over at you as worked on opening your door.  
“Evening neighbor,” he said capturing your attention.  
“Evening,” you awkwardly responded.  
You always felt so awkward speaking to him knowing that you heard his bedroom activities. You couldn’t help but wonder if he was aware that heard him and his bedroom activities.   
You scurried off into you apartment not really want to interact with the man that you couldn’t help but picture having sex. Walking inside you quickly shut your door and leaned against it. You took a deep breath and shake your head. You were in desperate need of sleep and you prayed that Bucky wasn’t going to have a guest over to keep you awake. 

Chapter 2:  
The sound of something slamming against your bedroom wall startled you awake. You squeezed your eyes shut and threw your pillow over head as you held back wanting to scream. The sound of a girl moaning Bucky’s name loudly made you want to scream even more. Glancing over at your alarm clock you saw it read three in the morning. You weren’t even sure how they were having sex this late or early in morning depending on how you saw it.  
Your shift started at six-thirty and at this rate Bucky and his friend were going to make it where you didn’t get any sleep.   
Once again there was a loud banging on the wall. You rested your hand on the wall debating on knocking telling him to keep it down. You pulled your hand back and contemplated knocking but for some reason you couldn’t. You hated confrontation and if you knock on the wall that was just inviting an awkward conversation with Bucky.  
Laying back down you let out a loud sigh. You were now going to have an issue going back to sleep now. Looking at your alarm clock you realized you had gotten about four and a half hours of sleep, maybe with enough coffee in you, you would be able to get through work.  
Crawling out of bed you decided that taking a shower might help get your mind off of Bucky and his bedroom activities.   
Slowly you stripped away your pajamas and turned on the water giving it time to warm up. As you stepped into the water you closed your eyes letting the water massage your tense body. Leaning forward you rested your head against the tile wall. You felt like you could still hear Bucky’s groans and the sound of the girl moaning his name. Biting your bottom lip you couldn’t help but picture what it would be like to be in bed with him. As the dirty thoughts crossed your mind your eyes popped open and you attempted to push away those thoughts. Bucky Barnes is handsome as hell, but the last thing you needed in life was to sleep with him.  
Stepping out of the shower you get dressed and went off to your living room trying to escape the sounds of Bucky’s bedroom activities.   
As you sat down on the couch and set your alarm on your phone so you didn’t over sleep. Laying down on the couch you decided to try to get some sleep on the couch.   
-  
The sound of you alarm going off on your phone was a friendly reminder that your couch was the worst place possible to sleep. Your back was sore as you sat up. Standing up you stretched out your tense body, completely regretting your choice to sleep on your couch.  
Walking off to your bedroom you got dressed in your scrubs and pulled your hair back not bothering to put any makeup on. Looking in the mirror the dark circles under your eyes were a clear indication that you didn’t get any sleep.   
Walking out of your apartment you watch as Bucky’s bedroom buddy slowly escapes his apartment in disheveled clothes and her hair pulled back in a messy bun. The pretty girl looks back at you and she looks like a deer caught in the headlights as she looks at you.   
“Good morning Bucky’s friend,” you say as you walk pass her.  
The girl can’t even think of anything to say to you. You managed to catch her completely off guard. Walking down the stairs you start you short commute to work.  
Walking into the hospital you run into Wanda who is in locker room waiting for you. She holds out a coffee for you. Wanda and you have been best friends since you both started nursing at the same hospital. She knows you need coffee to start your day, she also knows that Bucky’s bedroom activities are leaving your even more tired than normal.  
“Do those dark circles under your eyes mean Bucky had company?” Wanda asked before taking a drink of her own coffee.  
Silently you nod your head before taking a drink of your coffee. You prayed to yourself that the warm liquid was going to wake you up. You would give anything for another hour of sleep. There was a good chance you were going to skip lunch today and take a nap instead.  
“Why don’t you tell him to keep it down or ask him to have sex in his living room instead of in his bedroom?”  
Wanda is the type of person who could say this to Bucky without batting an eyelash. She’s literally the opposite of you. You would much rather die from no sleep then have to ever ask Bucky to keep it down.   
“I can’t,” you sighed before taking another sip of your coffee. “I literally slept on my couch to escape the noise,” you let out another heavy sigh.  
“Oh god, you need to woman up and tell him to keep it down. I can’t have you walking around half awake all the time because this hot asshole needs to get laid,” Wanda says sitting down on the bench next to you.  
“Thank you for the coffee Wanda, but I need to head down to the ER for my shift,” you stand up and walking towards you locker.  
You put your purse in your locker and head out of the locker room. Heading to the ER you run into Natasha who is leaving a patient's room. She gives you a knowing look.   
You walk over to the nurses station and get your assignments. Before you can even walk away you’re greeted by Natasha.  
“Hot asshole kept you up again?” Natasha asked.  
You silently nod your head.  
Walking passed her you start making your rounds you check on all you patients. Your shift was going smooth and on your lunch decide to actually eat and just drink more coffee. You planned on going to bed the moment you get home.  
You were working a twelve and around four pm you’re told someone was just brought in from a motorcycle accident. Heading off to the room you’re shocked when you see Bucky sitting in the room with most likely a broken arm and some road rash. You were thrown off by his paperwork saying James Barnes. Everything in you was screaming to hand your clipboard to Nat and take off running. Swallowing your pride you walk into the room.  
“Mr. Barnes I’m nurse (y/n), I hear you were in a motorcycle accident,” you say trying to act as professional as possible.  
Looking up at you with his ocean eyes he smiles at you. You fully understood how women fell for his charm just by the smile he was giving you.  
“Aren’t you my neighbor?” he asked with a smirk.  
Hesitantly you say, “yes.”  
“I didn’t know you were a nurse at the hospital,” he says as you walked closer to him.  
“What happened?” you ask wanting to get out of his room as quickly as possible.  
“I was riding my motorcycle and somebody hit me. My wrist hurts really bad, and I have some road rash,” he says as he lifts his shirt with his good hand.   
Your eyes can’t help but lock on his tone stomach that has quite a bit of road rash.   
“I’ll have the doctor come check on your wrist and I’ll clean up that road rash.”  
The last thing you wanted to do was be in charge of cleaning his wounds but you didn’t have a choice. Leaving the room you let the Dr. Stark know about Bucky’s wrist, and you head back into the room with a cart of supplies to clean him up.  
Walking up to the side of the bed. Looking at the tight white shirt he was wearing you knew you were going to have to have him remove the shirt so you could fully clean his wounds.   
“We need to take your shirt off,” you say.  
“If you want me naked all you have to do is ask,” he says with a flirty smile. Bucky is way too charming for his own good.  
“Can you just please take your shirt off?” you aren’t in the mood to deal with him.  
“Yes ma’am,” he says as he slowly starts taking off his shirt being extremely careful with his injured arm.  
He was sat shirtless on the bed in front of you. You tried to focus on cleaning his wounds and not his beautifully tone body that was on display. As you worked on doctoring him you could feel his eyes burning a hole in you. Glancing over at him you saw his blue eyes were trained on your round face.  
As your fingers dragged across his abs you tried your hardest to focus on your job. Never in your life had doctoring someone’s injuries felt so tension filled. It might have to do with the way Bucky was looking at you, or maybe it was because you knew the noises he made while having sex.   
Pulling your hands away from his skin you stepped away from his bed quickly.  
“You’re good now. Dr. Stark will be here in a minute to check out your arm. If you need anything, let me know,” you say before quickly walking out of the room.  
Once you’re out of eyesight from Bucky’s room you lean against the wall and take a deep breath. You can’t wait for this day to finally be over.  
Dr. Stark checked on Bucky’s wrist and sent him for X-Rays. As you were getting ready to leave work Dr. Stark was telling Bucky that he had broken his wrist. That he would need a cast.   
Standing at the foot of his bed you looked at his chart, “they’re going to come in and cast your wrist in a few. I’m off so nurse Hill will be taking over for you.”  
“You’re leaving me?” he asked with that same flirty smile.  
For some reason you blurted out, “I’m exhausted, I didn’t get much sleep because of someone’s bedroom activities.” Your cheeks burned bright red suddenly feeling completely embarrassed by what you had just said.  
He bit his bottom lip attempting to hold back a laugh.  
“I didn’t know the walls were so thin,” he responded.  
“They’re extremely thin,” you say with your cheeks still burning red.  
“I’ll make sure we keep it down,” he raised his eyebrow almost suggestively.  
“Thanks,” you quickly walk out of the room wanting to die from pure embarrassment.  
After work you went home and ate dinner and relaxed a little before heading to bed. Soon you fall asleep and have your first uninterrupted night of sleep since Bucky had moved in.


	3. mistakes were made

You had gotten three nights of uninterrupted sleep. Sitting in your bed you listened carefully to hear if Bucky was even in his apartment. You didn’t want to admit it, but you had grown quite concerned that you hadn’t seen or heard from him. 

It was a long and exhausting day at the hospital and you were finally glad to be home.

You were off from work tomorrow and didn’t need to wake up early, and you weren’t sure what do so you were just hanging out in your room enjoying some alone time.

Walking out of your room you headed off to your kitchen to get a glass of wine. Reaching into your fridge you pull out your already open bottle of peach moscato. You pour yourself a large glass of wine and head back to your bedroom.

Laying on your bed you sit your glass of wine on your nightstand and grab your laptop. You open your laptop up and look through Netflix attempting to find something to watch. You decide on watching some random episodes of the Office. You get cozy in bed holding tightly onto your glass of wine. 

You finish one episode as you finish your glass of wine and decided to run back into the kitchen to grab the bottle and bring it back to your room. Laying back down on your bed you sipped on your sweet wine as you continued to watch Office. 

On your third large glass of wine the sound of a loud thud on the other side of your bedroom wall catches your attention. Sitting up quickly you sat your glass of wine on your nightstand and stand up.

The sound of a groan left you feeling concerned Bucky was hurt. 

Standing up you were quickly greeted with the warm and fuzzy feeling in your body. As you walked through your apartment you were suddenly well aware that you were in fact tipsy.

You know you shouldn’t go check on Bucky, but you couldn’t help it. You knew that he was in a cast and you were worried that he might have fallen and gotten hurt.

Walking out of your apartment you walked next door quickly. You took a deep breath before knocking on his door. You stood there for a long moment wondering if you should run away, but before you could leave the door opens..

He stood there shirtless in nothing but lounge pants that sat very low on his hips. His extremely tone stomach was on full display. You couldn’t help it when your eyes wandered down to his v. You mouth about watered at the sight of him.

He cleared his throat catching your attention once again.

Your eyes snap back up to his as he stared at you with a confused look. 

“Are you okay?” 

He knits eyebrows together and gives you an even more confused look as he stares at you like you’re completely crazy.

“Yeah?” he says.

“I heard a loud noise that sounded like you were falling,” you say wondering what happened.

“Wow, these walls really are thin,” he lets out a little chuckle.

You were very confused on if had fallen, but you weren’t sure if that had to do with the large amount of wine you had drank.

“Did you not fall?” you ask.

He shakes his head and says, “no I didn’t fall. I just dropped my work bag because of this stupid cast.” He lifts his cast up and gives you a smile.

“Oh,” you suddenly feel really stupid for rushing over to check on him.

“Are you drunk?” he asked. He must of smell the wine on your breath, or maybe he noticed you wobbling slightly.

“No,” you say way too quickly. That’s a response that only drunk people say when they’re trying to claim they’re still sober.

“You sure about that?” he asks.

“I’ve had a little to drink, but I’m not drunk,” you state proudly.

“Did you want to come in since you’re worried about me?” he ask stepping aside.

You suddenly feel nervous. You’ve never seen inside his apartment. The thought of being in the place where all his bedroom noises came from made you feel super awkward.

“I should probably head back to my place,” you say awkwardly rejecting his invitation.

He shrugs his shoulders, “okay, well if you ever want to check me out again feel free to knock on my door.”

Your cheeks burn bright red as you silently step away from his door. This interaction was way too embarrassing for your liking. Walking back into your apartment you sit down on your couch and let out a heavy sigh. You weren’t quite sure why every single interaction you shared with Bucky just left you feeling super awkward. It probably had something to do with the fact you had heard him have sex multiple times.

Pulling out your phone you decide to text Wanda.

I saw Bucky shirtless again and he saw me shamelessly check him out. 

You still couldn’t get over the fact you checked him out right in front of him.

Your phone vibrated and you picked it up to see Wanda texted you back.

Wanda: Girl, what happened?

You let out a heavy sigh. You were going to have to relive you embarrassment as you told Wanda about what had just happened.

**I drank probably too much wine and I thought I heard him fall. So I went to check on him...**

Once again your cheeks burned red as you thought about your embarrassing mistake. You should have just stayed in your room watching Office and drinking your wine. The last two times you have spoken to Bucky you had done nothing but embarrass yourself.

**Wanda: Does he still look like sex on a stick?**

Rolling your eyes at her comment you’re tempted to not even text her back. Wanda was constantly saying you should just sleep with Bucky, but there was no way in hell you could do that.

**I would be lying if I said no.**

You wished that Bucky wasn’t as hot as he was. Maybe it would make this whole situation a lot less awkward if you weren’t so attracted to him.

**Wanda: you should go over there and tell him you’ll help take care of him (;**

Staring at her text you just shake your head. No matter how hot Bucky was there was no way in hell you were going to have sex with him.

**Goodnight Wanda.**

The conversation was over for you. You weren’t going to play along with her idea. 

Walking back into your room you grab the bottle wine and without even thinking about it you just start drinking straight from the bottle. Walking back into the kitchen you throw away the bottle of wine and then sway a little as you head back to your room.

You decide it’s time to start getting ready for bed. You strip off your clothes and find a pair of pajama shorts to pull on and you grab a comfy oversized shirt to wear. Heading off to the bathroom you brush your teeth and wash your face. 

Walking back towards your bed you throw yourself against your bed and groan as you grab your laptop. As you opened Netflix again you’re caught off guard by voice.

“Can you keep it down?” your stomach drops at the sound of Bucky’s voice.

His comment suddenly pissed you off. He made it where you had gone to work too many times on barely any sleep. You knew he was just doing it to mess with you, but his comment still annoyed you.

Hopping up on your knees you knock on the wall you shout, “you have no room to talk.”

He knocks back shouting, “if you want to join all you have to do is ask.”

You jump back and suddenly feel even more embarrassed than before. You lay back down wishing you never responded to his first comment. Bucky Barnes obviously found this all too entertaining, and you weren’t sure if you were ready to play this game.


	4. a peace treaty

The sound of loud music playing on the other side of your bedroom wall made your blood boil. Bucky was trying to mess with you at this point. It had been three days since your awkward encounter and since then he’s now well aware of how thin the walls are, he’s now moved on to doing things with the intention of you hearing him.

The only positive to this whole insane situation was he hadn’t had any girls over to his apartment.

You were getting ready to head off to work and Bucky was already trying to annoy you. Shaking your head you walk out of your room. You can’t wait to get to work just to escape being home.

Work goes by way too quickly for your liking. The whole time you’re working either Nat or Wanda are constantly asking too many questions about Bucky. Of course Wanda told Natasha about you super encounter with Bucky in the hallway.

You’re walking out of work and Natasha is following you.

“I still think you should hook up with Clint and give Bucky a taste of his own medicine. I know Clint would totally be down,” Natasha says. She makes this comment so casually like it wouldn’t be super awkward for you.

“You remember who you’re talking to right, that’s not an option,” you groan running your fingers through your messy hair.

“I think you should just women up and tell Dr. Barton you want to bang him,” Natasha states proudly.

You stop walking and just look at the red head shaking your head. She’s literally lost her marbles if she thinks there is any chance in hell you could casually ask Clint to casually have sex with you.

“I’m taking this as my cue to walk home,” you say as you wave goodbye.

Walking the short distance to your apartment building you’re already dreading dealing with Bucky. At this rate you’re wondering if you can get out of your lease early to escape all these super awkward encounters.

Walking down the hallway towards your apartment you are unfortunately greeted by Bucky leaving his apartment. At least this time he was fully dressed. The moment his pretty blue eyes lock on you overly curvy body he gave you his stupid flirty grin.

“Hello neighbor.”

You roll your eyes and walked passed him, “don’t you Mr. Rogers me. You don’t deserve that title.”

“Did you have a rough day at work?” he asked leaning against his door.

“Bucky I’m not in the mood for this,” you respond.

“Man that must of been a rough day,” he says before walking down the hall.

Closing your eyes you take a deep breath before you open your front door. Walking into your apartment you walk straight to your bedroom so you can change out of your work clothes.

Everytime your mind tried to think of Bucky you tried to push him away from your thoughts. It was safe to say you were beyond over this day. Your day had started out okay, but Wanda and Natasha had managed to bug you all day. Then Bucky managed to annoy you even more than he already was.

Heading into the kitchen you were attempting to figure out something to eat for dinner. The sound of someone knocking on your front door caught your attention. You prayed that it was anyone other then Bucky was knocking on your room

Walked over to the door and looked through the peephole and let out an audible groan at the sight of Bucky standing on the other side.

Hesitantly you open the door and find him smiling holding what looks like bag filled with Chinese take out.

“What do you want?” you ask not even bothering to try to act nice.

“Well if you must know Miss Attitude I felt bad you had a rough day at work so thought you might want to share some dinner with me,” he holds up the bag of take out with his good hand.

Part of you wanted to slam the door in his face, and the other part of you knew you couldn’t be a bitch to him. He seemed like he actually felt bad that you had a rough day. Hesitantly you step aside and he walks into your apartment.

“Don’t make me regret this,” you say as you lead him to the kitchen table.

“I will totally make sure I keep my shirt on. So you can make sure you don’t drool all over your dinner,” he smiles as he sets the bag down on the round table.

You don’t even respond to him you just glare at him for a long moment, “I will take your egg rolls and kick you out of my apartment. Do not test me Bucky.”

“I have to say I’m a big fan of this flirty game we’ve been playing,” he sits down and pulls out a to go box.

“I wouldn’t call this a game,” you say as you reach into the bag and pulls out another box.

“I think we’re totally playing a fun game. If it makes you feel better we can totally call it foreplay if you prefer that,” he licks his bottom lip and you aren’t sure if you want to slap him or bite his pouty bottom lip.

“That’s strike two one more strike and you’re kicked out and you lose your egg rolls,” you glare at him as your reach into the container of egg rolls.

“Are you telling me egg rolls are the way to your heart,” he says as he reaches over and grabs an egg roll.

“A night of peaceful sleep is actually the way to my heart,” you say before dipping your egg roll in the container of sweet and sour sauce.

“It’s taking everything in me to behave and not make a comment,” he’s trying his hardest to not smile at whatever dirty thought was in his mind.

Closing your eyes take a deep breath, you kept repeating to yourself over and over that you needed to play nice right now.

“I’m so proud of you for keeping that comment to yourself,” you respond before taking another bite of the egg roll.

“Do you have plates we can eat on?” he asks standing up.

“Yeah the second self in the cabinet to the right of the sink.”

He walks off to the kitchen and comes back holding to plates. He hands you one and sits back down across from you. You both dish yourself some food. You both eat silence and you can’t help but wonder how long until he says something stupid once again.

You finished eating and took your empty plate to the kitchen table. Sit down across from Bucky and he’s smiling at you and you can tell that he is definitely wanting to say something to you.

“I’m afraid to ask you what’s on your mind,” you say before taking a sip of your water.

“I’ll have you know it’s completely appropriate,” he response leaning back in his chair.

You knit your eyebrows together as you look at him, “really?”

He shrugs and say, “maybe it’s slightly inappropriate.”

“I will kick you out,” you state with a serious tone.

“How are you going to kick me out when you already ate all the egg rolls?” he leans forward resting his elbows on the kitchen table.

Leaning forward you rest your elbows on the table and look right at him, “I wouldn’t play with fire.”

He leans forward slightly and you’re once again left wanting to kiss him. His tone is low and slightly raspy as he says, “maybe I really want to get burned?”

You pull back and look at him. You don’t think you are nearly confident enough to play this insane game that Bucky has seemed to start between you.

“You’re very close to strike three,” you say.

“It’s okay darling I need to get home, I work early in the morning,” he says standing up. He walks into the kitchen and puts his plate in the sink before he walks back towards the table where you’re still sitting.

“I’m trying really hard not to get that third strike. If I leave with only two strikes, maybe I can have dinner with you again,” he smiles as he reaches for the front door.

“Goodnight neighbor,” he says as he walks out the door.

You just shake your head. How did you manage to end up with the hot neighbor from hell.

Walking into your room you lay on your bed you grab your laptop to start watching something again. You get about thirty minutes into the movie Stardust when you hear a knock on your wall. You know damn well you haven’t made any noise so he has zero reason to knock on your door.

“What Bucky?” you shout.

“I have to know something,” he ask loud enough for you to hear him.

“What could you possibly want to know?” you shout.

“So do you like picture me naked?” he asked from the other side of the wall.

You want to scream at his question and you grab your pillow and cover your face with it.

“Does that silence mean yes?”

You would never tell him that you do picture him naked.

“That’s strike three,” you shout removing the pillow from your face.

He doesn’t bother saying anything else you just hear him laugh. It was official you hate Bucky Barnes.


	5. playing with fire

It’s a Thursday afternoon when you walk into the laundromat that’s on the corner by your apartment building. You finally had a day off and you fully planned on running some errands and finally doing your laundry that you had put off doing for far too long.  
You’re in the process of loading your damp clothes into the dryer when you hear someone clear their throat behind you. Turning around you find Bucky standing behind you.  
You can’t help but roll your eyes as he gives you that stupid flirty smile. It was honestly annoying how hot he is. Why couldn’t he be unattractive? Literally everything would be so much easier if he wasn’t so hot.  
“Good afternoon neighbor,” he smiles.  
“Excuse me, strike three happened I’m not talking to you.”  
“You’re really over reacting about that question, so does that mean like everytime you see me you just picture me naked?” he knows he getting under your skin.  
“I hate you so much,” you turn away from him quickly.  
“Okay I’m sorry,” he says know damn well he’s pissed you off to know end.  
Looking back at him you glare, “we both know you’re not sorry.”  
He places his hand that has the cast on it over his heart and says, “but I am.”  
“Why can’t I seem to escape you?” you groan as you turned back toward the dryer. You start putting quarters in the machine hoping Bucky would get the hint and finally leave you alone.  
“Maybe it’s because you don’t want to escape me,” he says as he starts putting his laundry in the washer.  
Sitting in the corner you scroll through your phone while you’re waiting for you clothes to finish drying. Bucky had left after putting his clothes in the dryer, leaving you alone. The bell on the front door rings as it opens and you look up to see Bucky walking inside holding two cups of coffee. He stops in front of you holding a cup of coffee for you.  
Hesitantly you reach up taking the cup of coffee from him. Your eyebrows knit together as you look at the cup of coffee and you say, “should I worry about you poisoning me or something?”  
He rolls his eyes and sits down next to you, “this is my way of saying I’m sorry for strike three.”  
You bring the warm cup of coffee up to your lips and slowly take a drink. He managed to make sure it’s the perfect amount of cream and sugar.  
Sitting the cup down on you thick thigh you ask, “Are you actually sorry?”  
A flirty grim plays across his mouth as he shrugs his shoulder, “what can I say I was curious so I asked?”  
Your eyes narrow and you look at him shaking your head, “you need to learn to use the filter between your brain and your mouth.”  
Once again he shrugs his shoulders and leans over so his face is closer to yours, “I can’t lie it kind of turns me on to see you get all flustered.”  
Your cheeks burned bright red and your stomach dropped. Without even thinking you reach up and push his face away from yours. You glare at him as you say, “strike one.”  
“Hey your the one who pictures me naked, isn’t that a strike against you?” he asks as he raises his hands in a surrendering fashion.  
“I’ll gladly take three strikes if we don’t have to keep doing whatever this is,” your voice is pointed. He knows how to push your buttons and you don’t think he plans on stopping any time soon.  
“I know you act like you hate this whole thing, but you can’t lie to me and tell me you aren’t at least attracted to me,” he says with that damn flirty grin plastered across his face. “If it makes you feel any better I think you’re hot too.”   
Your cheeks continued to burn as you stared at him not even sure what you should say to him. Of course you thought he’shot. He was in the words of Wanda “sex on a stick” but it would be a cold day in hell before you openly admitted it to him. You knew that the only reason he was showing you the time of day was because he saw you now as a conquest.  
Before you could even give him a response the buzzer on your dryer went off. You jump up and grab your bag and start tossing your fresh dried clothes into your bag. You wanted nothing more than to just run away from Bucky in that moment.  
With your bag over your shoulder you quickly left the laundromat.   
-  
Somehow Wanda and Natasha convinced you to meet them at the bar. Part of you didn’t want to go out drinking, but the other part of you was trying to avoid Bucky at all cost.   
Walking into bar you were caught off guard when you spotted Natasha leaning against the bar talking to Clint. It all became clear very quickly that this was a total set up.  
Swallowing your pride you walked across the bar and greeted Natasha who gave you a knowing smile.  
“(Y/N) I’m so glad you actually decided to come out,” Natasha said pulling you into a hug.  
“Hi, Clint,” you say giving him an awkward wave.  
“Hey,” he says as he pulls you into a hug.  
Natasha waste no time leaving you alone with Clint. He buys you a drink and you stand there leaning against the bar.  
“So Nat’s told me about your situation with your neighbor,” he says before taking a drink of his beer.  
You blush and let out a sigh. Of course she told Clint about the whole situation  
“Hey you don’t need to be embarrassed,” he says as he places his hand under your chin. He gently lifts your chin so you’re looking right at him.  
“I’m really close to murdering him,” you say, letting out a soft chuckle.  
He removes his hand from your skin and ask, “what’s he doing?”  
You tilt your head back and let out a heavy sigh. You aren’t even sure where to start. The list was starting to grow too long.  
“Well it all started with him having really loud sex in his room. We have really thin walls and unfortunately I could hear the whole thing, and now that he’s aware of it he just goes out of his way to make me flustered. Like the other day he asked if I just picture him naked all the time,” you just rambled on. It probably all made zero sense, but you needed to get it all off your chest.  
“Wow,” Clint says trying his hardest not to laugh.  
Leaning on the bar with your elbows resting on the hardwood you put your face in your hands and let out a heavy sigh. This was your own embarrassing nightmare.  
“I would rather sleep at the hospital then deal with this,” you groan.  
“I have to know, and please don’t slap me for asking, but do you picture him naked?” he asked.  
Lifting your head you glared at Clint before letting out another sigh, “unfortunately yes.”  
Clint barked out a laugh and reaches over and rub your back as you pout with your face resting in your hands.  
“Well if you want to give him a taste of his own medicine, I’m willing to offer my help.”  
Quickly you lift your head and look at Clint with a shocked look on your face, “what?” you weren’t sure if you heard him correctly.  
“How do I say this without coming off as a total asshole?” he paused for a moment and tilted his head to the side. “So this guy has sex loud enough for you to hear, and just goes out of his way to embrass you. If you want we could hook up and drive him nuts. We could be super loud and over the top. I know we’re both super busy, and neither of us our looking for a relationship.”  
Your eyebrows knit together as you stared at him in shock. You couldn’t believe that Clint had really just offered to have sex with you just to give Bucky a taste of his own medicine.  
“Did I hit my head? Did I really hear you properly?” you asked still trying to wrap your mind around what Clint just offered.  
He reached out and rested his hand on your arm and says, “we totally don’t have to. I’m just offering if you wanted to. I don’t want things to be weird between us after this.”  
You shake your head and quickly say, “things won’t be weird, but I definitely need time to think this all over.”  
“Of course,” he says smiling.  
The rest of the night as you hang out with Wanda, Natasha, Clint and Dr. Banner who joined later you can’t help but think about Clint’s offer. You weren’t sure if you could go through with having sex with Clint just to annoy Bucky. You wished you could of been the person who would have said “yes” without even a second thought, but unfortunately you couldn’t.  
After a couple of hours at the bar you head home. Walking into your apartment you set your bag down on the couch and walk over to the fridge to grab yourself a bottle of water. The sound of someone knocking on your door catches your attention.  
Looking through the peephole you groan at the sight of Bucky standing on the other side grinning.  
Pulling the door open you glare at Bucky before looking down at the bags of chinese food he’s holding.  
“You already have one strike today,” you say.  
“Well that’s one less strike then I thought I had,” he smirks knowing damn well he’s playing with fire.  
“Dinner date?” he asked holding the bag up higher.  
“I will accept dinner, but this isn’t a date,” you say stepping aside.  
You’re starving and chinese food sounds too good to turn down. You walk into the kitchen and grab two plates. Sitting across from Bucky you had him a plate and start searching through the bags for the egg rolls.  
“I have them,” he says holding the box of egg rolls out in front of him.  
You reach forward and grab the bag. You both eat in silence, but you can feel Bucky constantly watching.  
“So where did you go?” he asks finally breaking the silence.  
“I went out with some coworkers,” you say before taking another bite of your egg roll.  
“So it wasn’t a date?” he smiles before taking a bite of his food.  
You knit your eyebrows together as you look at him. His question made him sound slightly jealous, but he had nothing to be jealous about.   
“No.”  
He shrugs one shoulder and says, “well that cool.”  
You go back to eating your food, and you both keep constantly glancing up at eat other. This game you seem to be playing keeps getting stranger and stranger.   
He sets his chopsticks down on his plate and he looks up at you smile. By his smile you can definitely tell that he is up to no good. It’s that flirty smile he has when he’s thinking about something inappropriate.  
“What?” you say sitting your chopsticks down.  
“So you left something at the laundromat today,” he captures his bottom lip between his teeth and your heart starts racing.  
“What are you talking about?” you think back to everything you had with you, and you knew you didn’t leave anything.  
He reaches into his pocket and pulls out something that’s navy lace. He holds them up on his finger still biting his bottom lip and your heart drops when you realize that he indeed is holding up a pair of your “sexy” lace panties. The ones you wear on dates just in case something happens.   
“Of course you ended up with my underwear,” you say quickly reaching forward and pulling them out of his hand quickly.  
“I thought you would be happy I’m returning these,” he smirks.  
You can’t even give him strike two, because at least he ended up with them and not some total creep.  
“Of all the things I could've dropped, why couldn’t it have been a shirt or something?” you wanted to scream.  
“I can’t lie I’m a fan of knowing you like to wear cheeky underwear. Especially the lace, I bet it looks so hot on.”  
“Strike two,” you shout standing up.  
“I’m sorry,” he stands quickly.  
You rush off towards you bedroom wanting to put your underwear away and to get some space from Bucky for a moment. You go to slam your door, but before you can he stops it with his good hand. He follows you into your room and stops by your bed.  
“You’re literally my own personal nightmare,” you say yelling. You’re so annoyed you can’t help but yell.   
He pushed his hand through his hair and stops smiling for once.  
“I’m not going to have sex with you, so maybe you should move on to chasing somebody else?” you shout at him. You know you can’t actually have sex with him, and he needs to know that. “Whoa,” he steps towards you and grabs your wrist.  
“I’m really sorry for the comment. Would you of preferred I kept your underwear?” he asks standing right in front of you.  
You take a deep breath attempting to calm down, “thank you for giving them back.”  
“I’m sorry for the stupid comments, I get it you’re over it. Can we maybe hang out and start over?”  
Your brain is screaming at your to say no, but your body is betraying and starting to react to the way he’ holding you.  
“You still have two strikes,” you say pulling your hand away from his.  
“Fair enough. I’m really sorry.”  
You walk back into your kitchen and Bucky helps you clean up you mess. Things seem suddenly different between you. He seems to notice that he’s going to get burned if he keeps it up.  
You sit in your living room watching and episode of the Office, and things between you is completely different. He only stays for a half hour before he says he needs to head home to get some sleep.  
You get ready for bed and lay and pull the covers up. Laying on your side you take a deep breath. Your day has been the definition of an emotional roller coaster, and you’re mentally drained.   
Closing your eyes you drift closer to sleep and the last thing you hear is Bucky’s muffled voice through the wall saying, “goodnight.”


	6. The master chef and his underwear

An unexpected friendship was blooming between you and Bucky. He went from being intolerable to oddly charming. It had been a month since he “returned” your underwear and since then he’s gone out of his way to be polite to you. You have dinner together at least twice a week, and at night he’s pretty quiet. The whole situation felt so odd to you, but you wouldn’t complain. You enjoy having Bucky as your friend, you even look forward to when you get to have dinner with him.  
Sitting on your couch you’re holding a slice of pizza as Bucky sat next to you.   
An episode of Master Chef was playing on TV. Bucky was busy giving you his commentary of what he would be cooking. In the whole time you had known Bucky you hadn’t ever seen him use a stove, you weren’t exactly sure why he was trying to act like he could compete on a cooking show. Since you and Bucky had starting spending more time together you had never seen him cook anything. You had only ever seen him make coffee and reheat food in the microwave.  
“Why are you acting like you can cook?” you ask as you knit your eyebrows together.  
He drops his pizza on his plate dramatically and says, “you wound me, I can totally cook.”  
You fight the urge to roll your eyes at his comment, “I have literally never seen you cook anything.”  
“Maybe because I’m not trying to get you into my bed,” he smirks.  
You aren’t exactly sure why but his comment kind of bugged you.  
“Okay Mr. Steal My Underwear,” you say as you roll your eyes.  
He turns on the couch so he’s facing you more and his blue eyes narrow in on you spending a shiver down your spine. He’s looking at you like he’s stripping away your clothes with his eyes.  
The corners of his mouth slowly turn up into a smile before he says, “I didn’t steal them but I did return them. You of prefered I kept them? I could have totally just had them hanging out in my dresser.”  
Your eyes go wide at his comeback. You were at a complete loss of what you should say to him. Biting your lip you stare at him. He managed to leave you completely flustered with very little effort.  
He still has that same smile plastered across his face. Even though Bucky has been behaving everytime you hang you, you still notice that he loves seeing you completely flustered.   
“Cat got your tongue?”   
“No,” you retort.  
“You sure about that?” he cocks his eyebrow.  
“Strike one,” you respond.  
He leans back with that same wounded look on his face as he throws his hands up, “I thought we were past this?”  
You shake your head smiling that you got the upper hand back, “that what you get for not behaving.”  
“I was behaving, you’re the one who brought up your underwear,” he says as he brings his pizza back up towards his lips.  
“Well I’m done talking about my underwear now,”  
“Fine, if you want, we can talk about my underwear,” he says with a little laugh.  
Your eyes narrow on him. You don’t find his comment nearly as funny as he does. You go back to eating in silence and watching Masterchef.  
Your about thirty minutes into another episode when suddenly the room goes completely dark. Your eyes go wide as you start to slightly panic. You can’t lie you are a little afraid of the dark. After one too many scary movies as a kid you’re to this day left feeling a little unsettled about being in the dark.  
“Well I wonder if the power is out in the whole building,” Bucky says speaking up.  
“I don’t know,” you say staying in the same spot.  
“I have a portable lanter at my place,” he says as he stands up.  
You reach to grab his hand quickly as you say, “wait you’re going to leave me?” You hate the thought of being alone in your apartment in the complete dark.  
“No, I’m going to leave you alone long enough to get the light and come right back.”  
You drop his hand and watch and he leaves your apartment. Reaching on the couch next to you, you pick up your phone and use it as a light to look around. Not even two minutes you door opens and Bucky walks in holding a light.  
“We have light,” he says holding the light up by his face.  
“Thank you,” you cheer.  
He sits the light down on the coffee table that is in front of you couch and looks over at you and asks, “so is it safe to say you aren’t a fan of the dark?”  
You nod your head as your cheeks flush red with embarrassment.   
“I can stay here until the power pops on if you would like,” his offer doesn’t come off as sexual or anything like that, and you can’t help but smile.  
You nod and say, “I would really like that.”  
You steal the light and walk off to your bedroom to grab two blankets and you sit back down on the couch next to Bucky.   
“Since I’m protecting you from the dark, does that mean I lose my strike?” he asked giving you an innocent smile.  
“I guess,” you say as you pull the blanket close to your chest.  
“Thank you.”  
“So what should we do to pass the time?” you ask. He gives you another one of those wicked grins and you know that if you give him the chance to speak he’s going to say something stupid that gets him a strike. “I swear to god if you say we can get naked, or something sex related thats an automatic two strikes.”  
He tilts his head to the side and barks out a laugh, “well I can’t deny those things crossed my mind.”  
“Behave,” you say pointing at him.  
“We can play twenty questions if you want.”  
You think back to your days as a teenager when you would play twenty questions or never have I ever. Almost always this game turned into asking sexual questions. You knew you were playing with fire but you guareed to play.  
The first handful of questions were more innocent ones, a mixture of questions about your life growing up. You proceeded to ask him similar questions it was interesting getting to know Bucky. On question nine Bucky asked you about your first boyfriend, the following question he asked about your first time. He asked so innocently and didn’t push for details so you didn’t feel the need to give him a strike.  
Your question ten to him was also asking him about his first time. You were shocked to find out that Bucky didn’t lose his virginity until he was two years into college. Living next door to him you were aware of his frequent visitors and were pretty shocked to realize that he was a little more of a late bloomer.  
“I can tell you’re judging me,” he says with his cheeks flushed a rosy shade of pink.  
You shake your head as your reach out and rest your hand on his knee. He looks down at your hand and looks up at you. “I think it’s sweet you waited for it to be with someone you cared about.” You never saw Bucky as someone who was romantic, and the fact that he waited until he was in a serious relationship was pretty heartwarming.   
His eyes seemed to be trained on your hand that was still on his jean clad knee, “I don’t normally tell people that story.”  
You remove your hands from his knee and asks, “why don’t you tell people?”  
“Because people don’t normally see me as this romantic guy. People always assume I’m some man whore so why would I bother telling them about saving my first time for a girl I thought I loved,” you could tell by his tone he was slightly embarrassed and almosted annoyed. You could also tell right away that this girl might have broken his heart.   
You stare at him wondering if you said something wrong. You clear your throat before you ask, “did I say something wrong.”  
He shakes his head as he stands up.   
“No that just something I normally don’t talk about.”  
“We can change the subject you,” you respond quickly.  
“It’s fine,” he says.  
Silently he stretches and you watch as he raises his arms over his head and your eyes automatically are drawn to the bare skin that is peaking out above his jeans. You can tell right away how tone his stomach is. Your mind can’t help but wonder how he would look naked. Shaking your head you attempt to push away the dirty thoughts that crossed your mind. You were just having a sweet conversation and your mind went straight into the gutter at the sight of his abs.  
“What’s your favorite movie?” he asks as he sits down on the couch again. You can tell that he’s trying to change the subject.  
“The Departed,” you say without even having to think about it.  
“The Matt Damon and Leonardo Dicaprio movie?” he eyebrows knit together as he gives you look like he’s not sure if he should believe you.  
“Yeah it’s a great movie.”  
You continue to talk about random things. The conversation steered far away from anything sexual after the topic of Bucky’s first time was brought up. Checking your phone you were shocked to see that it was midnight and the building still didn’t have power. It didn’t take long for you to awkwardly fall asleep on the couch next to Bucky.  
-  
The bright light shining into your apartment wasn’t the only thing that woke you up. The feeling of something digging into your thigh woke you. Opening your eyes you notice right away you aren’t alone your couch. You see Bucky laying on the couch as well facing the opposite direction. Your laying pushed against the cushions and he’s in front of you. If you move at all, he looks like he’s about ready to fall off the couch.   
As you attempt to stretch a little you feel him stir in front of you. He must not realize he’s barely on the couch because the next thing you hear is the sound of Bucky hitting the floor next to the couch.  
“Fuck,” he groans slowly sitting up.  
You sit up and look down at Bucky who looks like he could still use a few more hours of sleep.  
“Are you okay?” you ask.  
He rubs thighs as he says, “yeah but that’s possibly the worst alarm ever.”  
“I’m sorry.”  
He stands up and stretches for a moment before saying, “it’s okay, but I totally need some more sleep.”  
A yawn passes your lips letting you know you could probably go for some sleep yourself. You look at your phone to see it’s only six in the morning. You say, “well it’s not dark anymore you’re free to head back to your place to get some sleep in a real bed.”  
He rubs his hands down his face as he lets out another yawn. He has to be exhausted there is no way he slept comfortably on your couch with you.  
“Would you mind?” he ask.  
“Of course not.”  
Bucky heads back to his place, and you take that as your cue to head off to your room so you could get some more sleep in your comfortable bed. Laying down in your bed you get comfortable under the covers and set an alarm to wake up at nine.   
Before you can fall asleep you hear Bucky says, “sleep tight.”  
You can’t help but smile his remark. It’s not long before you’re sound asleep thinking about your neighbor who you can’t seem to stop thinking about.


	7. a beer glass filled with emotions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bucky finally meets your friends, and you get to hang out for the first time outside of your apartments.

Somehow Natasha had managed to talk you into going out to the bar after work. It started as just Natasha, Wanda, and you but it wasn’t long before Bruce joined and shortly after Natasha convinced Clint to show up. 

Walking over to the bar you ordered yourself a drink when you felt your phone vibrate. Reaching into your tight jean pockets you pulled out your phone and smiled at the sight of a new message from Bucky.   
**Bucky: Did you want ramen tonight?**

**Y/N: I wish, but I’m out with friends at the bar.**  
Putting your phone back in your pocket you walk back over to the table where all your friends are sitting. You take a sip of your beer before you feel your phone vibrate again. 

**Bucky: wow where was my invite? Haha**

**Y/N: would you even have come if I invited you?**

You realize after sending that text that you had never hung out with Bucky outside of your apartments. 

“Hey guys do you mind if I invite my friends?” You ask the group.

“I don’t care,” Wanda says.

“Invite whoever you want,” Clint says after.

You open your phone to see another message from Bucky. You can’t help but smile as you read his new message.

**Bucky: I would like to actually hang out with you outside of our apartment building.**

**Y/N: Okay if you want to hang out with me outside our apartments, come down to the bar on 12th.**  
You knew if he made up an excuse not to come that he really doesn’t want to hang out with you that badly.

Sitting your phone down you find Clint looking at you. He knitted his eyebrows together before asking, “who did you invite?”

You realize if you say your neighbor Clint is going to realize right away it’s the Bucky who used to keep you up at night. You also realize that this is going to lead to you having to talk about the offer Clint had made you. You hadn’t actually talked about it again since the last time he offered to help you give Bucky a taste of his own medicine.

You take a drink of your beer stalling before saying, “my neighbor…”

He shakes his head and lets out a little laugh, “the one you picture naked?”

You can’t help but roll your eyes, and let out a sigh.

“Yes,” you groan.

Wanda, Natasha, and Bruce seem to be in their own conversation and aren’t paying too much attention to you and Clint. 

“Please don’t slap me but I’ve got to ask you a question,” you already know what he’s going to ask you.

“Go ahead.”

“Did you sleep with him?” 

You want to be offended by his question, but you know he’s only asking because not long ago you used to complain to Clint about how much you hated Bucky.

“No, we don’t have a friendship like that. We just made a peace treaty, so we don’t want to kill each other.”

Your phone vibrates on the table in front of you and you open your phone to see another message from Bucky.

**Bucky: I’ll be there in ten.**  
“Is that him?” Clint asked.

You nod before taking another drink of your beer. 

Bucky walks into the bar ten minutes later Bucky walks into the bar wearing his leather jacket and dark wash skinny jeans. Your eyes immediately go down to his arm that no longer has a cast on it.

You stand up and walk over to Bucky. He pulls you into a hug without even giving it a second thought. You smile realizing that this is the first time Bucky’s ever hugged you.

“Did you get your cast off today?” you ask, pulling away from him.

Holding his now free arm up a large smile plays across his face, “six weeks are over and I can finally take a proper shower.”

You shake your head and let out a little laugh, “you’re a free man.”

“Why don’t I buy us both drinks to celebrate?” he asks.

Shrugging your shoulders you say, “I just finished my beer so I could go for another one.”

He puts his hand on your lower back and leads you off towards the bar. He asks you what you want and he orders both of you the same beer. You stand at the bar for a long moment just staring at each other.

“Is this awkward?” you ask.

He shakes his head and says, “no why would it be awkward?”

Shrugging you say, “we’ve never hung out somewhere other than our apartments.”

“So?”

“I don’t, are you cool with meeting my friends?” you asked curious to know if he wants to hang out with them.

“Yeah why not?” he doesn’t seem to think any of this is weird.

“Okay, follow me,” you say as you start walking back towards the table.

“Hey guys this is my friend Bucky, and Bucky these are all my friends who also work with me. This is Natasha, Wanda, Bruce, and Clint.”

Clint puts his hand out and shakes Bucky’s hand and says, “it’s nice to meet you man.”

“Nice to meet you,” Bucky says as he sits down next to you at the table.

It doesn’t take long before Bucky is fitting right in with all your friends. Things with you two are starting to become so easy, and you aren’t sure how to feel about that. The longer you’ve known Bucky and the closer you grow the more you realize you’re starting to fall for his charm. Things that used to drive you nuts about him, are starting to become charming. That might have something to do with the fact that you’re starting to let your walls down around him. After the last time you got burned you built your walls up high trying to protect yourself. The last guy that broke your heart was just like Bucky, too hot for his own good and charming. The more you think about it, that might be why you’ve been so guarded when it comes to Bucky.

The feeling of Bucky’s hand grazing your arm catches your attention and brings you out of your thoughts. Looking over at you he gives you a crooked smile before he responds to something Bruce had just said.

Looking across the table you find Natasha smiling at you. She’s giving you that all too knowing look.

“I’m going to run to the restroom,” you stand attempting to get a moment of air.

Walking off to the restroom you open the door and go to shut it, but before you can Natasha grabs the door. You look at her with wide eyes knowing she has a lot of questions she’s going to demand answers too.

Stepping away from the door, she steps inside and closes the door behind her locking it. Leaning against the counter you wait for whatever she’s going to ask.

“Who is the hot guy who seems extremely into you?” Natasha finally asked. 

“He’s not into me like that,” you say knowing that there is no way that you’re Bucky’s type.

“Are you blind?”

“Nat he doesn’t like me like that, we’re just friends,” you say as you push your fingers through your hair.

“Well it’s clear you’re blind, who is he?” she asked moving back to the first question she asked you.

“My neighbor,” you say, bracing for her reaction.

Natasha’s eyes go wide as she shakes her head in shock, “excuse me. You mean the dude who has loud sex, and drives you nuts?”

Closing your eyes you take a deep breath before nodding your head.

“What the hell happened that you’re now friends?” Natasha was asking all the same questions that Clint seemed to want to ask.

“We’re trying to work on being friends.”

Her eyes narrow as if she’s trying to read your body language to see if you’re lying or not. She pauses before asking, “so are you sleeping with him?”

Throwing your hands up you practically shout, “why does everyone assume we’re having sex now, just because I don’t want to murder him?”

“Whoa there calm down,” Nastasha says.

“No we’re just friends, Bucky doesn’t see me like that.”

“His body language says differently,” she says crossing her arms in a knowing fashion.

“Shut up Natasha,” you say walking towards the door.

“(Y/N)?” she says catching your attention as you reach for the door.

Looking back at her you can tell by the look on her face that she didn’t come in here to just bug you. 

“I just don’t want you to get hurt again.”

“Thanks Nat,” you walk out of the bathroom and walk back over to the table where your group is.

The rest of the night you’re back to sitting next to Bucky and having a good time with your friends. When Bucky finishes his beer he goes to the bar and orders you both another one. Things between you seem to be going so well you need to tell yourself that if you have a crush on Bucky you need to push it away. That you guys could have a really good friendship. 

At midnight the group all says their goodbyes and you’re left standing outside of the bar with Bucky.

“What do you think about walking back to our apartment building together?” Bucky asks with his hands shoved in his jacket pockets.

“I would like that,” you smile as you start walking down the street.

The cool night air against your skin feels nice as you walk down the street next to each other. Bucky’s walking right next to you and often brushes his arm against yours as you walk close to each other.

The whole walk back to your apartment building you and Bucky made small talk. You tried to keep your mind from wandering to what Natasha had said by distracting yourself with small talk. Walking inside Bucky hits the button to the elevator and you stand there waiting silently.

Stepping into the elevator you look over at Bucky who is staring at you.

“Is everything alright?” Bucky asked, noticing something is up with you.

“Nothing, I’m just a little tipsy,” you weren’t lying, you had drunk enough beer to leave you feeling all warm and fuzzy.

“If something is wrong you would tell me right?” Bucky asked, reaching out and resting his hand on your shoulder.

Before you can say anything the elevator doors pop open but Bucky keeps his hand on your shoulder. His ocean eyes are locked on yours like he’s looking into your soul.

“Yeah I would Bucky,” you lied.

He takes his hand off your shoulder and you both walk out of the elevator. You both walk to your own door. You both stand there neither of you unlocking your doors.

“Thanks for inviting me out,” he says.

“Thanks for coming,” you say as you unlock your door.

Walking inside you shut the door and quickly lock it. Leaning against the door you take a deep breath telling yourself that it’s alcohol running through your veins that’s giving you unnecessary feelings. You hope when you wake in the morning that all your clouded judgement will finally be gone.


	8. Chapter 8

Ever since that night out at the bar you we’re feeling conflicted. You felt stupid that you even had a crush on Bucky. It didn’t help that the closer you got to Bucky the more touchy feely he’s gotten. You hung out with him a few times since that night, and each time you were left feeling more and more confused.

Sitting in the cafeteria at the hospital you had a cup of coffee sitting in front of you and a bowl of fruit. Wanda is sitting across from you looking through her phone. You’ve been up since five and at work since six in the morning, and you can’t wait to go home and just relax. You were more tired than normal and that was probably because Bucky was over at your apartment until Midnight. You and Bucky had started watching the Office together. After work you made plans with him for him to come over and watch a few more episodes and eat dinner together.

Wanda cleared her throat catching your attention. You looked up at her and gave her a confused look, “yes?”

“So Nat told me that the hot leather jacket guy is your neighbor,” you can tell by her tone that she’s been dying to bring up Bucky.

“Why am I not shocked that Natasha told you who Bucky is?” you roll your eyes.

“Because we’re both invested in this situation,” she says before she takes a drink of her coffee.

“I’m happy to hear that everyone seems so invested in my friendship with Bucky,” you really wished you could go back in time and never tell Natasha and Wanda about Bucky’s active lifestyle.

“I can tell you’re over this conversation,” Wanda said as she leaned back in her chair.

Shrugging your shoulders you say, “wow what gave you that idea.” You knew you were probably coming off a little bitchy, but you didn’t care you really didn’t want everyone in your business. Especially when at the moment you were left feeling confused by what you were feeling.

“Someone needs more coffee today,” she lets out a little laugh brushing off your attitude. 

“I probably do,” you say before taking a big drink of your strong coffee.

The rest of your shift goes by pretty smoothly. When you arrive at your apartment walking out of the elevator you’re shocked to see a pretty redhead walking into Bucky’s apartment. Bucky must have not seen you, and you were grateful for that. Since you informed him how thin the walls were you hadn’t seen a single girl enter his apartment. You couldn’t lie, you suddenly felt stupid that you could even think about having feelings for him.

Quickly you rush into your apartment and feeling so stupid. You go to walk into your bedroom but stop in your tracks at the thought of hearing Bucky and his “friend”. Kicking off your shoes and dropping your bag on the table by the door, and you walk over to the fridge and grab the bottle of wine you have. You grab a large coffee mug and head off to the bathroom. 

Walking into the bathroom you turn on the warm water and quickly remove your scrubs and strip away your bra and underwear. You grab one of your favorite bath bombs off the bathroom counter and drop it into the rising water. You pour yourself a glass of wine into your too large coffee cup. Sitting the bottle on the floor next to the tub. Taking a moment to stretch your back you then step into the warm water. You felt like you weren’t in the best mood after work, and seeing a girl go into Bucky’s apartment just kind of pushed over the edge. 

You bring the coffee mug filled to the brim with red wine to your lips and take a big drink. You had already convinced yourself that it was fine to get buzzed, and watch netflix the rest of the day. You were off the next day so it wasn’t like you had to be up early. 

The scent of the lavender bath bomb helps relax as you lean back, dropping most of your body under the water. 

The sound of your phone dinging on the floor next to the bottle of wine catches you attention. Leaning up you grab a hand towel and dry off your hand before picking up your phone. You see a text from Bucky. Part of you doesn’t want to read it, but you really want to know what he has to say.

**Bucky: Hey I have to handle some work stuff this evening so I won’t be able to watch the Office like we planned.**

You weren’t shocked he canceled on you after watching a girl walk into his apartment. You were already on your second cup of wine so it wasn’t like you planned on seeing him anyway. 

**Y/N: Okay.**

You sit your phone down and go back to relaxing in the tub. 

After about a half hour you decide it’s probably time to get out of the bath. Getting out of the water you wrap a towel around your curvy body and pick up your wine and your phone. Walking into your room you quickly throw on some pajamas before heading out into the living room. You get comfy on your couch and start watching Ten Things I Hate About You. 

After a while you stopped drinking, not wanting to get too drunk. You managed to make yourself some pasta for dinner and switched to watching Cinderella. 

-

In the morning you woke up to the bright light shining into your living room. Sitting up you rubbed your eyes pushing away the sleep that had formed. It’s very clear to you right away from your headache that you’re a little hungover. From the amount of wine you drank you aren’t very shocked. Standing up you stretch your stiff body. Grabbing your phone off the coffee table you see you have another text from Bucky. You see he texted you after midnight and you’re confused on why he texted you late.

**Bucky: Are you okay?**

You’re confused on why he’s asking you if you’re okay. 

**Y/N: Yeah I’m okay why?**

You walk off to your bedroom attempting to find something to wear for the day. You settle for a pair of leggings and a sweater. You wash your face and brush your teeth before looking at your phone again to see another message from Bucky.  
**Bucky: You only gave me a one word answer and then I didn’t hear you in your bedroom at all.**

**Y/N: I’m fine I fell asleep on the couch last night.**

Heading out of your room you walk into the kitchen and make yourself a cup of coffee and some toast. Sitting down at your table you slowly drink your coffee and eat your toast. Your phone vibrates catching your attention. You groan at the sight of another text from Bucky. You weren’t in the mood to have him keep asking questions.

**Bucky: Are you sure you’re okay?**

**Y/N: Yes I’m fine, why are you so concerned?**

You sit your phone back down and go back to drinking your coffee. This hangover isn’t helping your not so great mood. 

Your phone vibrates again this time you have a text from Clint.

**Clint: How do you feel about getting lunch with Natasha and I?**

You know you should probably spend your day off staying home and just relaxing, but you really want to get out of your apartment.

**Y/N: Sounds great.**

**Clint: We’ll swing by and get you in ten.**

The sound of someone knocking on your door catches you attention. Walking over you open the door and you aren’t exactly shocked to see Bucky standing there. His eyebrows are knit together as he’s looking at you like he’s examining you.

“What’s up Bucky?” you ask breaking the silence that’s formed between you. 

“Are you mad at me for having to cancel last night?” he asked.

“No,” you don’t mean come off short to him, but you can’t help it.

“You sound like you’re mad,” He puts his hand on the door frame.

“Bucky I’m not mad you cancelled,” you aren’t lying you aren’t mad he cancelled. You’re just hurt that he had a girl over.

“Are we okay?” he asked, taking his hand off the wall and looking at you with a concerned look.

You want to be mad at him, but he seems so upset that you might not be okay. You tell yourself that you need to put aside your little crush and focus on being friends.

“Bucky we’re okay, I just had a really off day yesterday,” you groaned.

His eyes roam your body for a moment before his eyes lock on yours again. “I’m sorry I cancelled yesterday.”

“Bucky it’s fine. We can watch the Office later.”

He reaches out and rests his hand on your shoulder and gives you a smile, “okay sounds good.”

Someone clears their throat behind Bucky. He removes his hand from your shoulder and turns around to see Clint and Natasha standing there.

“Hey guys,” You say, stepping to the side so Bucky isn’t blocking your view of your friends.

“Ready for lunch?” Natasha asked.

“Yeah,” you reach down and grab your purse that is sitting on the table next to the door. 

Bucky steps back and is still standing by your door as you shut and lock your door. You look over at him and give him a sad smile. Things suddenly feel different between you and you know that it’s your fault. Reach out and rest your hand on his forearm and say, “We can watch the Office tonight if you’re free.”

He nods and gives you a smile, “okay sounds good.”

-

Lunch with Natasha and Clint was nice. You made it to being seated at your table when Natasha finally asked if something happened between you and Bucky. You brushed off her question and told her you were just talking about rescheduling plans to hang out.

After lunch you went back to your place and worked on cooking something for you and Bucky to eat for dinner.

Around six Bucky knocked on your door. He came over holding a carton of ice cream and a bottle of root beer. You couldn’t help but smile at the fact that he remembered that root beer floats are your guilty pleasure. 

You quickly finish cooking dinner and Bucky joins you at the table and the whole time you eat you make small talk without asking too many questions. Things between you still feel a little weird. You really want to ask him about the girl that was at his apartment yesterday, but you aren’t sure how you should ask.

After eating Bucky helped with the few dishes you have before you both move to sitting on your couch with a root beer float in hand. You start an episode of the Office and get comfort on the couch. 

You get about two episodes in when you finally cave and ask him what you’ve been dying to ask him.

“Hey Bucky?”

He looks over at you and says, “yeah?”

“Who was at your apartment yesterday?”

He knits his eyebrows together and a confused look plays across his face, “Kelly?”

“Who is that?” you ask, needing to know more.

“She works with me, we had a project that was due at midnight and she came over to help me finish it.” You weren’t sure if you believed him, but you didn’t want to ask him any more questions about the pretty redhead.

The rest of the night went like they normally did. Bucky stayed over until close to midnight before he headed back to his place.

Lay down in bed you get comfortable under the covers. Reaching over you turn off the light and listen as you hear Bucky shuffle around in his room. You used to curse the fact that your bedroom wall was so thin, but now you enjoyed being able to hear him.

Before falling asleep you hear him say “goodnight” like he always does.


End file.
